The public health and economic impacts of the pandemic continue to affect the well-being of many people living in the United States. Over the course of the pandemic, millions of people have lost jobs and income and are facing difficulty paying expenses, including basic needs such as food and housing. These social and economic challenges impact people’s health and well-being. Federal law provides billions of dollars in funding to address the public health crisis caused by the pandemic and provide financial assistance to many low-income people struggling to make ends meet. This overview shows how adults are faring across a range of social determinants of health indicators from March 2 to March 14, 2022, based on data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. It shows an overview. The survey is designed to quickly collect data about people’s health status. Lives are being affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This analysis considered a variety of measures over the course of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the Household Pulse Survey does not provide pre-pandemic measures for comparison. We have been tracking the data over time, and although there have been fluctuations at various points since March 2020, the pattern of distress has been largely consistent, and changes in measures have not necessarily followed economic indicators or pandemic trends. It does not mean.
What are the social determinants of health?
Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These include factors such as socio-economic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, social support networks, and access to health care (Figure 1).
Although health care is essential to health, research shows that health outcomes are influenced by a variety of factors outside of the health care system and may play an even larger role in shaping health. Extensive research has concluded that addressing social determinants of health is critical to improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities. Before the pandemic, a variety of efforts were underway in both health and non-health sectors to address social determinants of health. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had a disproportionate impact on the health of people of color and other high-needs groups, it has also had a disproportionate impact on economic and social factors.
How are adults navigating different social determinants of health during the pandemic?
Across a wide range of indicators, the majority of people experience hardship. Data for the latest period (March 2 to March 14, 2022) shows the following (Figure 2):
- More than one in eight adults (13.6%) reported that they or someone in their household experienced a loss of employment income in the past four weeks.
- More than six in 10 adults (61.3%) report having had at least some difficulty paying regular household expenses in the past seven days, and 31.8% use credit cards to meet household spending needs. Or took out a loan.
- 7% of adults are not confident in their ability to pay for housing next month (both renters and owners), and 10.3% reported a lack of food in their household.
- Almost one in three adults (31.4%) reported symptoms of depression or anxiety.
Black and Hispanic adults perform worse than white adults on nearly every measure, with large differences on some measures.. In early March 2022, three-quarters of Black and Hispanic adults (74.4% and 75.2%, respectively) reported having difficulty paying household bills, compared to 55.5% of white adults. 9.6% of black adults and 8.4% of Hispanic adults said they were not confident in their ability to pay for housing next month, compared with 4.0% of white adults. Also, 20.4% of Black adults and 16.2% of Hispanic adults reported food insecurity in their households, compared to 7.1% of white adults. Additionally, nearly one-fifth of Black adults and nearly one-in-four Hispanic adults live in a household that experienced a loss of employment income in the past four weeks, compared to 10.2% of white adults. (17.1% and 23.0%, respectively).
The long-term pattern of hardship is indicative of both the impact of the pandemic and related policies, as well as long-standing disparities in social determinants of health. The data shows that the proportion of people experiencing symptoms such as depression and anxiety, food insecurity, loss of employment income and lack of confidence in paying housing costs peaked in December 2020, but other than that is almost stable (data not shown). However, it is notable that the proportion of adults who have had at least some difficulty paying regular household bills in the past seven days has increased significantly, from 50.9% in early September to 61.3%. is. This may be due to the increased prices of many household items. However, differences in the rates of hardship faced by certain groups have been evident throughout the pandemic and, to some extent, reflect long-standing disparities that existed before the pandemic.
Although variations by age and gender were less pronounced, younger adults (18 to 44 years) performed worse on many measures compared to older adults. For example, a higher proportion of young adults report symptoms of anxiety and depression, and also report having some difficulty paying regular household expenses. Additionally, a higher proportion of women than men reported symptoms of depression or anxiety in the past seven days and difficulty paying regular household bills.
On most measures, adults with children in their families performed worse than adults overall. For example, 17.5% of adults with children in the household experienced a loss of employment income in their household in the past four weeks, compared to 13.6% of adults overall, and more than two-thirds of adults with children in the household. (69.2%) reported difficulty. Those who paid household expenses in the past week compared to 61.3% of the total population. Adults in households with children also report food insecurity, symptoms of depression and anxiety, lack of confidence in their ability to pay for housing next month, and borrowing from friends and family to cover household expenses. The trend was higher than the general population.
Things to keep an eye on in the future
Federal legislation has provided billions of dollars to address the ongoing health and economic impacts of the pandemic, including direct financial assistance to individuals. This federal aid may have contributed to some improvements in metrics since the early peak of the pandemic. But some federal funding has expired, and even with vaccines available, the trajectory and duration of the pandemic is unclear due to new variants and surges. Congress could consider broader legislative proposals that were part of the Build Back Better Act that could expand health insurance coverage and help address health disparities among various demographic groups However, the status and outcome of the bill are unclear.
The authors would like to thank Rachel Garfield, former KFF Vice President, and Kendall Orgera, former KFF Senior Data Analyst, for their roles as authors on earlier versions of this report.